Solve Chicago Branding

A logo, slide deck, and web design project for a new social enterprise in Chicago.

ForSolve Chicago RoleBrand Designer

The Problem

Solve Chicago is a social enterprise model that partners with government, community organizations, and private investors with the common goal of driving economic growth in distressed neighborhoods and, in turn, reducing violence across our city.

This organization had recently been started in Chicago by some local entrepreneurs. The founders needs a logo, slide deck, and website to share their vision, raise money, and start establishing a brand.

I was brought on to lead the design and create these assets for the organization.

The Process

I started by interviewing the founders. I wanted to get a deeper understanding of their story and the "why" behind starting Solve Chicago.

The founders had a deep, warm love for the city and they had a mission to see Chicago become a city with more equal opportunity for employment. I wanted to lean into this for their branding and capture the energy and love they have for city.

I start exploring different elements that make Chicago iconic and things the founders mentioned that make this city unique. I took some early concepts to them. They loved the idea of using colors that resembled the Chicago flag. They also wanted to use a skyline icon of Chicago to demonstrate uniformity of their organization.

For the font, I decided to go with something bold and welcoming. I chose Lilita One because the thick weight of each letter gives it a certain boldness and the curves in each letter keep it welcoming/playful. The colors, logo, and font concepts resonated with the founders.

I then moved into creating the detailed logo, slide deck, and web design. I designed them, got feedback, and made iterations. This happened for two rounds and after that we landed on the final deliverables.

Logo

Title Slide for Deck (see the full deck below)

Web Design for Landing Page

The Final Results

Logo
The logo has a red and light blue Chicago skyline icon. It also says Solve Chicago in the Lilita One font.

Slide Deck
The slide deck explains who Solve Chicago is, what their mission is, and how they want to create change and opportunity throughout communities in Chicago.